Many modern devices allow a user to touch a screen as a way of providing a user-input. A touch-based input or a touch-based gesture is a manner of providing a user input by touching a touch-sensitive device. Some touch-based gestures are a single point tap or touch, e.g., with a single finger or stylus. Other touch-based gestures are more complex, e.g., a swiping motion with a finger or stylus, tapping with more than one fingers or styli, or drawing patterns on the device with one or more fingers or styli.
Any device capable of accepting a touch-based input is referred to herein as a touch-based device. A computer monitor, a smartphone display screen, and a screen of a tablet computing device are all examples touch-based devices employing touch-sensitive screens. A touch-sensitive screen allows a user to touch the screen at different locations, in different manners, or a combination thereof, to provide touch-based inputs.
An application executing on the touch-based device accepts the inputs to perform certain operations. Often, the application presents a graphical display on the touch-sensitive screen to guide the user in performing the touch-based gesture.
For example, an application may present the well-known “OK” and “Cancel” operations as button graphics on the graphical user interface (GUI) of a touch-based device. The user taps or touches one of those button graphics to indicate the user's selection to the application. The application accepts the touch as a user-input, determines the location and/or the manner of the touch, correlates the location with a location of one of the button graphics, and performs the action corresponding to that button graphic which matches the location of the touch.